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Exercise Addiction or healthy habit? Denver Therapy Counselor working with Eating Disorders and Body Image

Is Exercising Too Much a Sign of an Eating Disorder?

Exercise is good, right? Exercise lifts our mood, makes us healthy, gives us energy…what can be bad? I’m often asked when is exercise too much? Can it be a sign of an eating disorder? The answer is “yes”, it can be a sign of a eating disorder, and sometimes it’s a fine line between a healthy habit and a dependency on exercise to control weight in an unhealthy way or cope with difficult thoughts and feelings. Here’s how to tell the difference: What is your intention with the exercise? When exercise is part of an eating disorder, the intention around exercise matters. If your intention is to lift your mood, revel in moving your body around, develop a great habit, clear your mind, and work on fitness goals than by all means, sweat away. If, on the other hand, the exercise is a punishment for perceived over-eating, or feels like a sacrifice you have to make to the voice in your head telling you that you’re fat/ugly/worhtless/whatever, well that’s a different thing entirely. If the intention of the exercise is punishing or placating something judgmental, then that is a sign of a disorder. Is your exercise habit too rigid? We all want to cultivate healthy habits for ourselves. Sometimes, exercise does feel like a chore, but we do it for our health and to keep up a good habit. But if exercise becomes so rigid that it interferes with other valued areas of your life, it may be time to look at this. For example, if you can’t skip a workout to do something fun with your friends, or connect with a partner, or complete an important task, then that is leading down an unhealthy road. If you feel like your day will be “ruined” if you work out in the evening rather than the morning, that’s rigid in an unhealthy way. Has the exercise become an addition? Exercise can become an unhealthy addiction. This happens when you exercise so much it’s unhealthy for your body and you are not re-fueling properly, or resting when your body tells you it needs rest. If you are dependent on exercise to keep anxiety, depression, or eating disorder-related thoughts at bay, it may be time to get some other tools handy to deal with these things. This doesn’t mean to never exercise again, of course. When we work with clients around this issue, it’s always about putting exercise in its proper place; part of a healthy lifestyle, but not the central piece of your self-image and self-esteem.

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Denver therapist counselor

3 Things You Don’t Want Your Therapist To Know-And Why You Should Tell Them

We all “know” that we should be open with our therapists, that’s the reason we have a therapist in the first place. A place that is just for you, with your therapist or counselor’s undivided attention. A place with no judgement. However, it is still really hard to be open, and it’s normal to feel embarrassed about some things that come up in therapy. Here are the 3 top things that I notice my clients feel embarrassed about, and why I love when they share them with me. 1 I’m not sure if I can trust my therapist completely. Why you feel this way: You know that your therapist is there for you. You hired them after all! They are bound by very strict rules of confidentiality. But still, this is a stranger after all. How do you know that they won’t tell their friends about “that crazy client of mine?” We don’t share a lot of ourselves most of the time, so you feel really open and vulnerable. Why you should tell your therapist: We completely understand. Most of us have going through therapy or counseling ourselves and we know what it feels like to be vulnerable and wonder if the person on the other side of the room is really trustworthy. We love to have these conversations so that we can reassure you, explain how confidentiality works, and explore any deeper trust issues that this brings up. If you feel uncomfortable with being the only one talking about themselves, you can also ask questions about us. It will help your process if you can talk openly with your therapist about trust. 2. I do this really embarrassing thing to cope, and I feel ashamed about it.  Why you feel this way: We all do things to cope with difficult emotions and thoughts-good things, bad things, crazy things, embarrassing things. When we are put under a certain kind of stress, we all have the urge to act out. Sometimes it’s surprising what we find ourselves doing in deeply uncomfortable moments. We just want to feeling to go away, and we stumble upon something that gives us temporary relief. Why you should tell your therapist: We get it. We’ve heard it all. You have nothing to be embarrassed about. We are here to help you and to understand you. Here’s an incomplete list of unhelpful coping that I’v heard about just this past month: Stealing things pacing binge eating binge drinking using drugs punching yourself pulling out you hair picking a fight with your spouse starving yourself making yourself throw up   See? You’re not as alone as you think you are, and these behaviors are not part of your personality, but a behavior that you are reaching for in moments of desperation. Your therapist wants to know so that they can work together with you to find better coping tools. 3. I’m not sure this therapy is working. Why you feel this way: Maybe you’ve been going to counseling for a while, and you are just not seeing the progress that you want to. Or you feel disconnected from the process. Or not heard or understood. You wonder where the therapy is going, or you’re not sure of your goals anymore. This is really common. Why you should tell your therapist: We do not take this personally. We want to know what you’re thinking about the process and if you’re unhappy with it. We are here to serve you and help you towards your goals. Often, we can re-adjust to get back on track. Sometimes we see lots of progress that is not apparent to you, and we love the opportunity to point that out. Perhaps it’s time to end therapy because we’ve reach our goals. We want to know so we can help.  

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How Can I Stop Thinking About The Past?

How Can I stop Thinking About the Past?

Whether you’re finding yourself thinking too much about the past, or obsessing over upsetting memories, it’s difficult to “get over” the past and live in the present. Part of the reason that it’s so difficult to stop ruminating about the past is due to how our brains are wired. Specific memories, feelings and thought patterns often arrange themselves together if they coalesce around a past event. There’s a saying in brain science that goes: What fires together, gets wired together. This basically means that we create well-worn “paths” in the neural structures of our brains that we can get caught in. Once we start thinking about one thing, it leads to the next and so on and on. Here are some concrete tools to stop thinking about the past: Notice when you are thinking too much about the past. Pay attention to where your mind is. If you’re obsessing about the past, say to yourself “I’m obsessing again, and I’m working on letting this stuff go.” 2. Use an Interruption Technique. This is where you jolt your mind out of the obsessive pattern by thinking about something else, moving your body around, giving your brain a new task (such as solving a simple math problem), or even singing to interrupt the ruminating on the past. 3. Re-write the story of the past event. Take a more balanced view of the past event and re-frame it as something both good and bad, not simply something bad that happened that you can beat yourself up over. For example, you could re-frame a job firing as: “I didn’t do well in that job, but I did learn new skills and I know what to work on in my next job.”

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How Long Does a Panic Attack Last? Denver Therapist Counselor

How Long Does a Panic Attack Last?

There are really two answers to the question of how long panic attacks really last: First, how long it feels they last, and second, how long they actually last. To the first question the answer is simple: They like like they last forever. The intense feeling of fear and anxiety, the racing thoughts, the rapid heartbeat, all of it. It feels like it will never, ever end. But it does, and quicker than you might think. The second question has been studied and we also did an informal survey of clients here at our Denver therapy office which confirmed it: Panic Attacks usually build for 5-8 minutes, peak at about 10 minutes, and are over in 20-30 minutes. This doesn’t mean that you feel better after 20-30 minutes, however. For the next 20 minutes or so, you will likely feel the after-effects of a panic attack which is the feeling of all that adrenaline leaving your body. You might feel weak, shaky, tired, and a bit numb. This is really normal. The important this to remember is that panic attacks are temporary, and you won’t panic forever. It’s relatively normal to have one or two panic attacks in your lifetime. If you have them more regularly, you may actually have an anxiety disorder and could benefit from counseling and possibly medication to treat it. For more on therapy for anxiety, go to our Anxiety Therapy page.

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How To Find a Therapist near the Denver Tech Center

If you’re looking for a therapist in a large metro area like Denver, it helps to be more targeted in your search. Thrive Counseling is located just north of the Denver Tech Center, so we have a lot of clients that either live or work in the Denver Tech Center (or the DTC, as the locals call it). Sometimes we are not a good fit for someone, and they ask me how to find a different therapist in the Denver Tech Center. Here’s three ways to go about it: 1.If you want to find a therapist that takes your insurance, call your insurance company directly and ask for referrals. They have the definitive list for who is in-netowrk with you, and you can ask them to search in a specific area for you. 2.You can use a Therapist Directory like Psychology Today, and search via your Zip code. This will give you a list of therapists in your area. 3.Call Thrive Counseling or send us an email. We are near the Denver Tech Center and would love to hear from you.  

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